Hedonic Food Research Articles

Self‐serving Contagion and Mimicry in Buffet Lines: Whom You Follow Influences What and How Much You Take and Eat

Eating companions can influence eating behavior, but can they influence self‐serving? Less is known how strangers who self‐serve food in a public place may encourage self‐serving mimicry, whether this varies with food‐type and gender, and how self‐serving behavior influences eating behavior. This study investigates self‐serving mimicry in a buffet line in an attempt to determine what people and foods are most prone to serving mimicry and what is the impact of these on subsequent items. 163 strangers were ordered female‐female‐male male and then consecutively served themselves six food items from a lunch buffet. Amounts served and eaten were measured along with demographic measures. The amount a person serves and eats is influenced by the amount served and eaten by the person immediately in front of them. This result appears to be driven mostly by females following females, and can result in an increase in caloric intake. Among these women, mimicry appeared to be stronger with hedonic foods (French fries, applesauce, and macaroni salad) than with less indulgent foods (chicken and celery). Serving contagion and mimicry exist in public places like buffet lines. There are specific implications for dieters suggesting the most indulgent foods are the ones most prone to mimicry.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Information Framing Strategy on Utilitarian and Hedonic Food Product Packaging

The increasing adoption of framing strategy among food marketers and advertisers generates inquiries about the effectiveness of the strategy. Product messages with different framing strategy are expected to stimulate different consumer responses. This research investigates the difference of consumer attitude and purchase intention towards the framed product when consumers are exposed to food labels with different types of food product (hedonic vs utilitarian) using different framing strategy (positive vs negative). A lab experimental design was prepared involving 160 participants. Chocolate was examined to represent hedonic product while packaged milk was used as utilitarian product. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple linear regression. Findings suggested that the effectiveness of framing strategy was moderated by product type. Positive framing was found to be more effective for hedonic food products, while for utilitarian food product, it was more favorable to adopt negative framing.

5-HT2C receptors in the ventral tegmental area, but not in the arcuate nucleus, mediate the hypophagic and hypolocomotor effects of the selective 5-HT2C receptor agonist AR231630 in rats

Central serotonin systems have long been associated with the control of feeding behavior and the modulation of behavioral effects of psychostimulants. 5-HT2C receptors are present in hypothalamic centers such as the arcuate nucleus (ARC), controlling homeostatic regulation of food intake, as well as in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a region involved in motivation aspects in multiple behaviors, including feeding. In the present study, we investigated whether the 5-HT2C receptors control amphetamine-evoked locomotor activity and regulate food consumption. Localized microinjections into the VTA or the ARC were used to assess the effects of a highly selective 5-HT2C receptor agonist, AR231630, on the locomotor stimulant effect of amphetamine as well as on food intake. AR231630 injected into the VTA, but not into the ARC, dose-dependently reduced locomotor activity elicited by amphetamine. Unexpectedly, intra-ARC injection of AR231630 did not reduce food intake even at the dose of 10 μg, whereas intra-VTA injection of the same dose of AR231630 did. In addition, we showed that pretreatment with the selective 5-HT2C receptor antagonist SB242084 infused into the VTA partially prevented hypophagia induced by peripheral administration of AR231630. We can conclude that 5-HT2C receptor in the VTA, but not in the ARC, participates in both homeostatic and hedonic food intake and brain reward function.

How Does Food Taste in Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa? A Protocol for a Quasi-Experimental, Cross-Sectional Design to Investigate Taste Aversion or Increased Hedonic Valence of Food in Eating Disorders.

Background: Despite on-going efforts to better understand dysregulated eating, the olfactory-gustatory deficits and food preferences in eating disorders (ED), and the mechanisms underlying the perception of and responses to food properties in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) remain largely unknown; both during the course of the illness and compared to healthy populations. It is, therefore, necessary to systematically investigate the gustatory perception and hedonics of taste in patients with AN and BN. To this end, we will examine whether aversions to the taste of high-calorie food is related to the suppression of energy intake in restricting-type AN, and whether an increased hedonic valence of sweet, caloric-dense foods may be part of the mechanisms triggering binge-eating episodes in BN. In addition, the role of cognitions influencing these mechanisms will be examined.Method: In study 1, four mixtures of sweet-fat stimuli will be presented in a sensory two-alternative forced-choice test involving signal detection analysis. In study 2, a full-scale taste reactivity test will be carried out, including psychophysiological and behavioral measures to assess subtle and covert hedonic changes. We will compare the responses of currently-ill AN and BN patients to those who have recovered from AN and BN, and also to those of healthy normal-weight and underweight individuals without any eating disorder pathology.Discussion: If taste response profiles are differentially linked to ED types, then future studies should investigate whether taste responsiveness represents a useful diagnostic measure in the prevention, assessment and treatment of EDs. The expected results on cognitive mechanisms in the top-down processes of food hedonics will complement current models and contribute to the refinement of interventions to change cognitive aspects of taste aversions, to establish functional food preferences and to better manage food cravings associated with binge-eating episodes. No trial registration was required for this protocol, which was approved by the Swiss ethics committee (CER-VD, n° 2016-02150) and the Ethics Review Panel of the University of Luxembourg.

Greater Reward-Related Neuronal Response to Hedonic Foods in Women Compared with Men.

ObjectiveThe current study aimed to identify how sex influences neurobiological responses to food cues, particularly those related to hedonic eating, and how this relates to obesity propensity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).MethodsAdult men and women who were either obesity-resistant (OR) or obesity-prone (OP) underwent fMRI while viewing visual food cues (hedonic foods, neutral foods, and non-food objects) in both fasted and fed states.ResultsWhen fasted, a significant sex effect on the response to hedonic vs. neutral foods was observed, with greater responses in women than men in the nucleus accumbens (p=0.0002) and insula (p=0.010). Sex-based differences were not observed in the fed state. No significant group effects (OP vs. OR) or group by sex interactions were observed in fasted or fed states.ConclusionsGreater fasted responses to hedonic food cues in reward-related brain regions were observed in women compared to men, suggesting that women may be more sensitive to reward value of hedonic foods than men when fasted. This may indicate sex-dependent neurophysiology underlying eating behaviors.

Flexible flexibility! Food categorization flexibility and utilitarian preference

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose that high categorization flexibility’s positive influence on hedonic or affect-laden choice is attenuated by conservation and nutrition mind-sets. Further, categorization flexibility can also promote utilitarian or cognitively superior preference and may have a role in steering customers toward healthier dietary choices.Design/methodology/approachTwo experimental studies document that the pro-utilitarian impact of food categorization flexibility can be facilitated by priming conservation mind-set and nutrition mind-sets.FindingsThe results of this study show that conservation and nutrition mind-sets not only mitigate the earlier-demonstrated facilitative influence of food categorization flexibility on hedonic food preference, but also facilitate utilitarian food preference.Originality/valueThe current study provides the first evidence that food categorization flexibility can facilitate both hedonic and utilitarian preferences. The findings contribute to literature streams on categorization flexibility, resource-scarcity and hedonic versus utilitarian consumption. In addition, the findings offer specific prescriptions about encouraging customers to choose utilitarian and relatively more healthful food options, which in turn will improve the general welfare of the society.

A randomised controlled trial of a duodenal-jejunal bypass sleeve device (EndoBarrier) compared with standard medical therapy for the management of obese subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus

IntroductionThe prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is increasing. Exclusion of the foregut, as occurs in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, has a key role in...

Emotion suppression, emotional eating, and eating behavior among parent-adolescent dyads.

Emotion suppression may lead to ironic increases in emotional experience. More important, suppression is a transactional process, creating stress and disrupting interactions for the suppressor and those in social interactions with individuals who are suppressing emotion. However, no research has examined the behavioral consequences of emotion suppression in close relationships. We examine the possibility that emotion suppression will predict eating behaviors as a secondary emotion regulatory strategy among 1,556 parent-adolescent dyads (N = 3,112), consistent with evidence suggesting that suppression influences eating at the individual-level. Actor-partner interdependence models and structural equation modeling demonstrate that one's own emotion suppression was associated with emotional eating; greater consumption of hedonic-low nutrient, high energy dense-foods; and lower consumption of fruits and vegetables (actor effects). One's partner's emotion suppression was also independently associated with one's own emotional eating; lower consumption of fruits and vegetables; and greater consumption of hedonic foods (partner effects), although this association was most consistent for adolescents' suppression and parents' eating (compared with the converse). These analyses suggest that dyadic emotion regulatory processes have implications on eating behavior. Moreover, analyses suggest that emotion suppression has potential implications on eating behaviors of others within close relationships with a suppressor, consistent with the notion that emotion regulation is a transactional process. These findings suggest that interventions to improve eating habits of parents and their adolescent children should consider dyadic emotion regulatory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Tastiness but not healthfulness captures automatic visual attention: Preliminary evidence from an eye-tracking study

Visual attention can be automatically captured. From an evolutionary perspective, automatic attention can be useful for rapidly detecting salient stimuli, such as foods. Two attributes of foods (tastiness and healthfulness) are needed for survival. Moreover, these two attributes have different characteristics possibly associated with automatic visual attention. The more basic and hedonic attributes of tastiness are processed earlier than those of healthfulness during elaborative food choices. However, it remains unknown how the two attributes (tastiness and healthfulness) automatically capture visual attention. To this end, we investigated the extent to which taste- and health-related food information influences automatic visual attention using eye-tracking. Thirty-seven participants engaged in the target-distractor paradigm where four images were presented (top/bottom for houses as the target, left/right for foods as the distractor). Participants indicated whether the presented targets (houses) were the same or not. Visual attention toward foods would be automatic because the participants did not have to attend to them. Tastiness, but not healthfulness, captured automatic visual attention. In addition, preferred foods did not capture automatic visual attention. Even after including confounding factors associated with the stimuli (e.g., brightness, familiarity, complexity), automatic visual attention captured by tastiness remained significant. These preliminary findings indicate that humans detect hedonic food information such as tastiness, but not healthfulness or preferences.

Impact of self-health awareness and perceived product benefits on purchase intentions for hedonic and utilitarian foods with nutrition claims

Making benefit cues explicitly available to consumers can mitigate the impacts of added product attributes, such as nutrition claims, from which consumers often infer negative meaning. Yet, food products also vary in the benefits that consumers value most; they regard taste as most important for hedonic foods, but performance as pertinent for utilitarian foods. This article presents three studies that examine how making perceived product benefits explicit affects consumers’ purchase intentions toward hedonic and utilitarian food products that feature nutrition claims. Self-health awareness may moderate this effect (Study 1), which also depends on the prime, whether of the product’s underlying goal (hedonic vs. utilitarian) (Study 2) or of consumers’ own health motivations (Study 3). The results show that participants with high primed health motivation purchase hedonic food products with nutrition claims only if the product benefit is explicit. For utilitarian food products, the negative effect of the nutrition claim can be mitigated by making the perceived benefit explicit but only among participants with low self-health awareness. Priming thus can facilitate healthier food choices, though its outcomes depend on the type of food and self-health awareness.

Visual food cues decrease postprandial glucose concentrations in lean and obese men without affecting food intake and related endocrine parameters

The abundance of highly palatable food items in our environment represents a possible cause of overconsumption. Neuroimaging studies in humans have demonstrated that watching pictures of food increases activation in brain areas involved in homeostatic and hedonic food cue processing. Nevertheless, the impact of food cues on actual food intake and metabolic parameters has not been systematically investigated. We tested the hypothesis that watching high-calorie food cues increases food intake and modifies anticipatory blood parameters in lean and especially in obese men. In 20 normal-weight and 20 obese healthy fasted men, we assessed the effects of watching pictures of high-calorie food items versus neutral contents on food intake measured during a standardized test buffet and subsequent snacking as well as on glucose homeostasis and endocrine parameters. Compared to neutral pictures, viewing food pictures reduced postprandial blood glucose concentrations in lean (p = 0.016) and obese (p = 0.044) subjects, without any differences in insulin or C-peptide concentrations (all p > 0.4). Viewing food pictures did not affect total calorie intake during the buffet (all p > 0.5) and snack consumption (all p > 0.4). Concentrations of ghrelin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and glucagon also remained unaffected (all p > 0.08). These data indicate that preprandial processing of food cues curbs postprandial blood glucose excursions, without immediately affecting eating behavior in normal-weight and obese men. Findings indicate that exposure to food cues does not acutely trigger calorie overconsumption but rather improves the glucoregulatory response to food intake.

764. Homeostatic and Hedonic Food Motivation in Adolescent Low-Weight Eating Disorders before and after a Standardized Meal

764. Homeostatic and Hedonic Food Motivation in Adolescent Low-Weight Eating Disorders before and after a Standardized Meal

Impact of physical activity level and dietary fat content on passive overconsumption of energy in non-obese adults

BackgroundPassive overconsumption is the increase in energy intake driven by the high-fat energy-dense food environment. This can be explained in part because dietary fat has a weaker effect on satiation (i.e. process that terminates feeding). Habitually active individuals show improved satiety (i.e. process involved in post-meal suppression of hunger) but any improvement in satiation is unknown. Here we examined whether habitual physical activity mitigates passive overconsumption through enhanced satiation in response to a high-fat meal.MethodsTwenty-one non-obese individuals with high levels of physical activity (HiPA) and 19 individuals with low levels of physical activity (LoPA) matched for body mass index (mean = 22.8 kg/m2) were recruited. Passive overconsumption was assessed by comparing ad libitum energy intake from covertly manipulated high-fat (HFAT; 50% fat) or high-carbohydrate (HCHO; 70% carbohydrate) meals in a randomized crossover design. Habitual physical activity was assessed using SenseWear accelerometers (SWA). Body composition, resting metabolic rate, eating behaviour traits, fasting appetite-related peptides and hedonic food reward were also measured.ResultsIn the whole sample, passive overconsumption was observed with greater energy intake at HFAT compared to HCHO (p < 0.01), without any differences between activity groups (p > 0.05). SWA confirmed that HiPA were more active than LoPA (p < 0.01). HiPA had lower body fat and greater fat-free mass than LoPA (p < 0.05 for both) but did not differ in resting metabolic rate, eating behaviour traits, appetite-related peptides or food reward (p > 0.05 for all).ConclusionsNon-obese individuals with high or low physical activity levels but matched for BMI showed similar susceptibility to passive overconsumption when consuming an ad libitum high-fat compared to a high-carbohydrate meal. This occurred despite increased total daily energy expenditure and improved body composition in HiPA. Greater differences in body composition and/or physical activity levels may be required to impact on satiation.

Integration of the sensory experience and post-ingestive measures for understanding food satisfaction. A case study on sucrose replacement by Stevia rebaudiana and addition of beta glucan in fruit drinks

The present study provides a more holistic view on consumers’ hedonic food experience compared to what is traditionally seen in sensory research, by integrating the hedonic sensory experience and post-ingestive sensations in one study to understand food satisfaction. The study was performed using apple-cherry fruit drinks with different levels of beta-glucans and different sweeteners, sucrose or Stevia rebaudiana. The aims were: 1) to study the hedonic sensory experience, 2) to study time and product effects on post-ingestive sensations and satisfaction, and 3) to study main drivers of satisfaction.A randomized cross-over consumer study was conducted using 66 subjects. Hedonic ratings of sensory perceptions were collected immediately after intake, and subjective ratings of post-ingestive sensations were collected pre intake and in 10min intervals up to 40min post intake. Significant hedonic differences of sensory properties were found between all fruit drinks, except between the fruit drinks varying in type of sweetener only. Differences in post-ingestive sensations were found immediately – and 10min post intake between fruit drinks with and without added beta glucan. Satisfaction with sensory attributes was found to be the main driver of food satisfaction, while post-ingestive sensations drove satisfaction as well. While replacing sucrose with Stevia rebaudiana did not affect the hedonic and post-ingestive sensations, addition of beta glucan resulted in both positive and negative post-ingestive sensations. In general, adding beta glucan without compromising satisfaction is difficult. This study show that a detailed description of hedonic sensory – as well as post-ingestive sensations can bring important information about factors driving consumers’ satisfaction.

Taste and nutrition: the uses and effectiveness of different advertising claims in women's magazine food advertisements

A multi-method study was conducted to examine different advertising claims in current food advertising and to determine the effectiveness of different advertising claims on females’ evaluative judgments of food advertisements. Content analysis results of 678 women's magazine food ads indicated functional food ads appeared to adopt nutrition appeals without taste claims and a combined use of nutrition appeals and taste claims, whereas hedonic food ads tended to use taste claims without nutrition appeals. Nevertheless, these food advertising practices were called into question by the results of two experiments, showing the combined use of nutrition appeals and taste claims was the most effective strategy for both hedonic and functional foods. However, for hedonic foods, advertisers need to include more congruent than extremely incongruent claims. Implications for food advertisers and policy-makers were discussed.

Complementary Feeding Strategies to Facilitate Acceptance of Fruits and Vegetables: A Narrative Review of the Literature.

Complementary feeding (CF), which should begin after exclusive breastfeeding for six months, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), or after four months and before six months according to the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN), is a period when the infant implicitly learns what, when, how, and how much to eat. At the onset of CF, the brain and the gut are still developing and maturing, and food experiences contribute to shaping brain connections involved in food hedonics and in the control of food intake. These learning processes are likely to have a long-term impact. Children’s consumption of fruit and vegetables (FV) is below recommendations in many countries. Thus, it is crucial to establish preferences for FV early, when infants are learning to eat. The development of food preferences mainly starts when infants discover their first solid foods. This narrative review summarizes the factors that influence FV acceptance at the start of the CF period: previous milk feeding experience; timing of onset of CF; repeated exposures to the food; variety of foods offered as of the start of the CF period; quality and sensory properties of the complementary foods; quality of the meal time context; and parental responsive feeding.

Posterior resting state EEG asymmetries are associated with hedonic valuation of food

Research on the hedonic value of food has been important in understanding the motivational and emotional correlates of normal and abnormal eating behaviour. The aim of the present study was to explore associations between hemispheric asymmetries recorded during resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) and hedonic valuation of food. Healthy adult volunteers were recruited and four minutes of resting state EEG were recorded from the scalp. Hedonic food valuation and reward sensitivity were assessed with the hedonic attitude to food and behavioural activation scale. Results showed that parieto-occipital resting state EEG asymmetries in the alpha (8–12Hz) and beta (13–30Hz) frequency range correlate with the hedonic valuation of food. Our findings suggest that self-reported sensory-related attitude towards food is associated with interhemispheric asymmetries in resting state oscillatory activity. Our findings contribute to understanding the electrophysiological correlates of hedonic valuation, and may provide an opportunity to modulate the cortical imbalance by using non-invasive brain stimulation methods to change food consumption.

Pleasure as a Substitute for Size: How Multisensory Imagery Can Make People Happier with Smaller Food Portions

Research on overeating assumes that pleasure must be sacrificed for the sake of good health. Contrary to this view, the authors show that focusing on sensory pleasure can make people happier and willing to spend more for less food, a triple win for public health, consumers, and companies alike. In five experiments, the authors ask U.S. and French adults and children to imagine vividly the taste, smell, and texture of three hedonic foods before choosing a portion size of another hedonic food. Compared with a control condition, this “multisensory imagery” intervention led hungry and nondieting people to choose smaller food portions, and they anticipated greater eating enjoyment and were willing to pay more for them. This occurred because multisensory imagery prompted participants to evaluate portions on the basis of expected sensory pleasure, which peaks with smaller portions, rather than hunger. In contrast, health-based interventions led people to choose a smaller portion than the one they expected to enjoy most—a hedonic cost for them and an economic cost for food marketers.

The Halo Effect of Product Color Lightness on Hedonic Food Consumption

AbstractThe authors present evidence that light-colored hedonic foods, that is, foods generally considered to be vices and relatively unhealthy, are consumed in greater quantity than the same foods that are darker in color. Greater consumption was demonstrated for lighter-colored chocolate candies and pudding (vs. darker) across a variety of colors. This halo effect of color lightness arises for vice foods because they are consumed for the hedonic experience itself; indeed, the present results indicated that greater consumption was driven by an increased pleasurable experience in the form of a more favorable in-the-moment emotional response and higher taste evaluations. By contrast, the halo effect of color lightness was attenuated for healthy, often called virtue, foods that are consumed for more utilitarian consequences. Findings have practical implications for consumer welfare by contributing to an understanding of what may drive overconsumption of high-calorie foods and for marketers interested in enc...

Computer Interfaces and the “Direct-Touch” Effect: Can iPads Increase the Choice of Hedonic Food?

People are able to order food using a variety of computer devices, such as desktops, laptops, and mobile phones. Even in restaurants, patrons can place orders on computer screens. Can the interface that consumers use affect their choice of food? The authors focus on the “direct-touch” aspect of touch interfaces, whereby users can touch the screen in an interactive manner. In a series of five studies, they show that a touch interface, such as that provided by an iPad, compared with a nontouch interface, such as that of a desktop computer with a mouse, facilitates the choice of an affect-laden alternative over a cognitively superior one—what the authors call the “direct-touch effect.” The studies provide some mediational support that the direct-touch effect is driven by the enhanced mental simulation of product interaction with the more affective choice alternative on touch interfaces. The authors also test the moderator of this effect. Using multiple product pairs as stimuli, the authors obtain consistent results, which have rich theoretical and managerial implications.